Last Year, Consumption Declined in 10 out of 16 Cities and Provinces... 4Q Decrease in Chungbuk and Gwangju

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] Consumption in Chungbuk and Gwangju significantly contracted in the fourth quarter of last year compared to the same period the previous year. On the other hand, Jeju and Seoul enjoyed a boom due to a sharp increase in duty-free store sales driven by the rise in foreign tourists.

According to the "2019 Q4 and Annual Regional Service Industry Production and Retail Sales Trends" released by Statistics Korea on the 14th, retail sales in Chungbuk and Gwangju decreased by 1.6% and 1.5%, respectively, in the fourth quarter of last year.

In Chungbuk, the decline was large in specialty stores (-11.5%), and large discount stores (-2.4%) also showed sluggish performance.

Gwangju also saw decreases in specialty stores (-6.1%) and department stores (-2.7%).

Conversely, Jeju (15.2%), Seoul (6.9%), Gyeongnam (4.2%), Busan (3.8%), and Jeonbuk (2.5%) experienced increases.

In particular, Jeju and Seoul saw duty-free store sales soar due to the foreign tourist boom, increasing by 38.5% and 46.9%, respectively. Additionally, Jeju boosted consumption in specialty stores (11.6%), while Seoul saw growth in passenger car and fuel retail stores (8.9%).

Service industry production in all 16 metropolitan cities and provinces increased compared to the same period last year. Seoul (3.3%), Jeju (3.2%), and Gyeonggi (2.6%) showed strong performance in information and communications, wholesale and retail, and health and social welfare sectors, resulting in high growth rates.

In Seoul, increases were recorded in information and communications (7.5%), health and social welfare (9.6%), finance and insurance (2.4%), professional, scientific and technical services (5.0%), and real estate (9.9%), in that order.

Jeju saw growth in wholesale and retail (6.0%), health and social welfare (5.6%), finance and insurance (3.2%), business facility management, business support and rental services (5.4%), and accommodation and food services (2.4%).

Gyeonggi experienced rises in health and social welfare (8.9%), information and communications (7.1%), real estate (9.5%), education (1.7%), and transportation and warehousing (1.7%).

Chungbuk (0.4%), Ulsan (0.5%), and Busan (0.6%) showed sluggishness in wholesale and retail, education, and transportation and warehousing sectors, respectively.

On an annual basis, service industry production decreased in Ulsan (-0.3%), while retail sales declined in Daegu (-1.2%), Gwangju (-1.9%), Daejeon (-1.2%), Ulsan (-0.8%), Gyeonggi (-0.7%), Gangwon (-0.6%), Chungbuk (-2.4%), Chungnam (-0.6%), Jeonnam (-0.7%), and Gyeongbuk (-1.1%).